You may have thought you knew Star Wars. You may have even thought you'd played Star Wars. But nothing can prepare you for the immersive experience you'll be facing in a year or so when Star Wars: Galaxies finally hits the street. LucasArts, Sony and Verant are working hard to ensure that this massively multiplayer online role playing game is a true recreation of the imaginative worlds we've all witnessed onscreen. And if the work they were showing at this year's E3 is any indication, a new standard in online entertainment is on the way.

Using content from both the original trilogy, as well as Episodes One and Two, Galaxies will let you explore the world you've seen onscreen in a completely customizable character. Sure, you can be a Mon Calamari, Human or Wookie. We've all known that for months. But individuality is something the developers are striving to achieve. Rather than having hundreds of clones wandering the world, they're creating a daunting customization feature that will allow you to personalize your avatar. For example, want a bucktoothed Wookie? It's possible. (Weird, but possible.)

With over 80 emotes, you'll also be able to control your avatar's mood. The standards, such as waving, are there, but the one that caught our eye was the ability to type in a standard "smiley" and have your onscreen persona break out into a toothy grin. Conversations with other players can be done in one of two ways: Via a bottom-of-screen chat box or overhead "bubbles". It's completely your call.

And don't think you have to explore this world alone. Galaxies will allow you to capture, train and breed pets to accompany you on missions. (We'd recommend not trying to capture a Tatooine Krayt Dragon, though. Thirty-feet tall and thrice as ugly, this is a fearsome creature that will chill you to the core when you stumble across it. And forget about getting a Dewback. They don't breed in captivity.) Not an animal person? You'll also be able to build your own droids, who will follow you around (and move a bit faster than that pokey R2 in the films).

Since the game will be landlocked at release, it's probably best to begin there. Sony's Raph Kosten and LucasArts Haden Blackman walked us through some preliminary grasslands and swamp areas that they hastened to point out were unfinished. With the swamp, that was somewhat noticeable. But the grasslands gave us the biggest "wow" moment of the show.

Our avatar was wandering, exploring a rather empty field, where individual blades of grass blew lightly in the wind. Crossing a hill, we stumbled across two enormous AT-ATs, which resembled wild animals rather than armored attack vehicles. Standing in the field, gazing around, they were breathtaking machines, detailed and fearsome. Then Kosten took us closer, to the base of the AT-AT, to demonstrate the scale of the game.

Looking slowly up the legs to the belly of the AT-AT, you realize exactly how immense these devices are. You gain a whole new appreciation of Luke's demolition of one in The Empire Strikes Back. And you see how trying to take one of these things down yourself would be a suicide mission. (There's a reason that farm boy's a Jedi!)

Playable in both the third and first person, the game allows you to adjust the camera angle however you'd like. You can swoop around the field, viewing characters from any direction imaginable. And no matter how close or far we got, we didn't see one single jaggie. (Keep in mind, this was the incomplete level, too.)

Next, it was on to Tatooine, the most complete level to date. In a word: Wow. The detail was incredible, with real-time shadows cast by the Jawas scurrying around, bump-mapped sand and buildings that look just like the ones from the film. Meanwhile, clouds and stars float by overhead as time passes. We didn't make it into the Mos Eisley cantina, but we did spot Jabba the Hutt - in all his corpulent glory - holding court with a Jawa.

The game will work with current generation graphics cards, but Galaxies makes powerful use of the GeForce 3. The aforementioned Krayt Dragon is terrifying looking. Verant has made very effective use of bump mapping and the chip's smooth motion capabilities make creature movements look very natural. Again, the game's sense of scale was showcased as the sheer size of this creature was astonishing. The slight shaking of the screen as it took each step was a nice added touch, too.

Kosten then briefly showed off the space expansion of the game, which is hands down the best space adventure to date. Forget Freelancer. Forget Earth & Beyond. For sheer graphics intensity and (once again) scale, we've never seen anything like this.

Capital ships are enormous - and can be operated cooperatively by groups of players. And you see there's no way that a single X-Wing could ever take out a Starfighter. Forget everything that Wing Commander taught you. It will only get you killed here.

Better still is the ease of control for ships. All space sequences were controlled with only a mouse. It's part of the design philosophy behind Galaxies, which is trying to make itself accessible to both hardcore and casual gamers.

It's worth noting that while the space expansion pack won't be out until six months after Galaxies launches, you won't be locked on a single planet before that. NPC shuttles will travel from world to world, taking players along the various routes. In fact, if you decide to build a spaceport and maintain it in the game, there's a good chance it will be added to the shuttle routes.

While the majority of folks are all geared to strap on blasters and light sabers, Galaxies will have innumerable peaceful occupations. In addition to running a spaceport, you can choose to be a bartender, a musician or even a hairdresser! (If you're looking to change the look of your avatar, you'll need to find someone qualified to do that. Enter the hairdresser.)

"Community is very important in the game," says Koster. "You can play the entire game without ever drawing your blaster."

As informative as the demo was, several mysteries remain about the game. Player Killing details have yet to be discussed, though Blackman said those would be unveiled in the coming weeks. (You won't have to participate in player vs. player if you don't want to, though.) And nobody's even guessing at required system specs right now. That probably won't happen until after the first beta test (scheduled for early next year). The fate of voice chat is still up in the air as well, but it looks (at this point) like you won't have that option on the ground. It could very likely be part of the space expansion, however.

Galaxies is, of course, a PC title, but Blackman did note that they haven't ruled out including any other platforms at this time.

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